Improvement in envelopes



I l l I I l l P. HATFIELD.

Envelope.

tttttt ed April 23, I878.

PATENT "OFFICE.

'OLIVfliuR E. HATFIELD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ENVELOPES.

Specificatioaforming part of Letters Patent No. 202,816, dated April 23, 1878; application filed February 21, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OLIVER P. HATFIELD, of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have-invented a new and useful Improvement in Letter, Note, and Card Envelopes, of which the following is a specification:

My invention refers to that class of envelopes which are intended, in part, to be gummed or pasted to the letter, note, or card, and is chiefly valuable in consequence of the great facility and saving of time in handling where letters are required to be written in great haste, and also in saving the address and postmark upon the letter.

My invention consists in cutting out and removing the greater portion of the face of the envelope, or so constructing it, in an equivalent an d specitic manner, as to reveala large portion of the face of the inclosed letter, note, or card, so that the address and postmark may be written upon the latter, and not upon the envelope; and in attaching the envelope to the letter, note, or card by gumming or pasting the former to the latter around the margin of said face opening or perforation in the envelope.

The accompanying drawings have letters of reference, which are the same upon similar parts.

Figure 1 is a plan, showing the general idea of my invention. Fig. 2 is a face view, when folded, of the letter and envelope shown in Fig. l; and Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are face views of letters and envelopes folded, showing various forms of outline of the perforation in the envelope.

In Fig. l, A B G D is one of the forms of envelope adopted, which does not vary in general outline to any'great extent from those in common use, except that the flaps A and O are made somewhat broader than usual, the better to receive the gummin g upon them, when folded, of the flaps B and D; but the central portion E F G H of said envelope is taken out by perforation, and thus reveals a portion of the letter, note, or card contained within. Said envelope A B O D is attached to the note-paper I J K L by means of mucilage or some other adhesive material applied around the margin of the perforation E F G H, as shown by the dotted line at U, the place of said attachment upon a note being at the middle of the length of the exterior side of the paper, so that the two ends of the notemay be folded within the face of the envelope, which being done, the two flaps A and (J are folded to cover them, and thereupon the flap D is folded over them and gummed, and, finally, the flap B being folded and gummed, the appearance of the back is very much like that of an ordinary envelope, and that of the face is as shown at E F G II, Fig. 2. Within said space E F G H, Fig. 2, the writing-paper is exposed to view, and upon it the address is written and the postmark stamped. When said envelope is to be attached to writing-papers of letter size it is placed at the center of one end of the paper, as is indicated bythe dotted lines M NOP, Fig.1. WVhen the note-paper is furnished with the envelope attached and not folded, the flaps A and O, for convenience, are folded back over the face of the envelope; and when in a like case it is attached to letter-size paper, the flap O is folded back in the same manner.

It is not considered essential to make the form of the said perforation of the envelope in any specific shape; but it may be made in any desirable pattern that is large enough to contain the said address and postmark. Thus, if made as shown in Fig. 6, the card of the sender or any advertised matter may be printed on the space left of the envelope, on the lefthand upper corner; and if made as shown in Fig. 11, an additional space left of the envelope on the right-hand upper corner may receive the impression of the embossed stamp of the Post-Office Department. In other cases the gummed stamp maybe put upon the letter, note, or card itself.

I propose to furnish these envelopes in their manufacture prepared in three different ways; first, the envelope separate and ready to be attached by the purchaser; second, the envelope attached to the Writing-paper, but not folded; and, third, the envelope so attached, and with both the writing-paper and envelope folded.

I am aware that writing-papers have been manufactured of a peculiar form of outline, presenting the shape of envelope-flaps, and which flaps, when folded, have served the purpose of an envelope; but I do not regard this form of construction as performing the same office as those of my invention, since, said flaps being necessarily of the same color and quality of paper as the writing-paper, no distinction can be made between that part considered as the envelope and the part written upon within the letter, thus presenting the constant danger of the letter being destroyed or very badly mutilated in opening it. But in the case of my invention the envelope is made of paper of either a difl'erent color or of a different character of surface from that of the letter, so that there can be no mistake made of that kind in opening it.

I am also aware of a device patented by Charles Rowland, August 8. 1871, No. 117,818, by which a flap of a peculiar form is pasted to a card and folded over the writing; but in this case no regard is had to the comely appearance of the back of the card, and the address is not intended to be written upon it, but

upon the flap of the envelope.

1 am also aware of an invention of said Rowl land, patented December 19, 1865, No. 51,623, by which four separate flaps are so gummed or pasted to a half-note sheet as to serve the purpose of an envelope, or two so pasted and two cut out of the sheet, it is not clear which; but I conceive this method to be attended with considerable more labor than mine, and to be essentially dilferent in character.

I claim- A le ter-envelope perforated through its face with an aperture sufliciently large to admit of writing the address and stamping the postmark upon the exposed portion of the letter but otherwise completely enveloping the letter, and the margin of the envelope around said aperture provided with mucilage to attach it to the letter.

OLIVER. P. HATFIELD.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM J. MEBRITT, LoUIs RUTHMANN. 

